Billups, Rip, Tay, Flip Murray, Stuckey, Acker, Amir Johnson, and JMax probably could probably hit 20 points in these games too, if they were the go-to guy on a South American team. I would even guess that Nazr could do some serious damage if he played Uruguay. Not trying to diminish Delfino's performance, but all of the NBA players in the tournament are doing well (Barbosa, Arroyo, Dalembert, Splitter, Nene, etc.).
oh yeah. i forgot about jmax and amir. i'll add them to the list. so rasheed, amir, mcdyess and jmax could drop 20 and 11. all of them are big men. yeah i agree. but none of them would be traded for 2 second round picks either.
I didn't say International is inferior. I'm implying that it is different. For example, Ron Hornaday is a two time Nascar truck series champion. But he's never been more than a marginal Nascar Winston/Nextel Cup Series driver. Still racing, but different rules, environments, techniques.
Except for Arroyo... but that further confirms your point that we aren't getting fair value in our recent trade. It's a complicated game, but in the cases of Darko, Arroyo, Maurice Evans, Delfino, and Ben Wallace, I think that Joe probably could have got more in return if he would have worked it a little better. Most of these guys wanted to leave, which put pressure on Joe to adhere to his policy where he grants players' wishes. However, I think that Joe could have done more through the coaches to make these guys NOT want to leave. Then if you want to trade them, you can take your time behind the scenes and get a good deal.
Some of it is just a #s game. Salaries and roster spots. And sometimes we take it for granted that the moves are all sequential based on date, rather than planned based upon preceding moves.
I haven't been watching many of the games, so I hadn't realized just how much LeBron is shooting the lights out: I doubt anyone will expect that to carry over against Olympic competition next year, but it's still pretty impressive.
Lebron's 3-point style seems much better from the shorter international range. Rip Hamilton is the same way. LBJ is making a lot of shots, but he's also dunking at least 35% of his field goal attempts. That really helps to raise the old average. And they aren't just dunks, they are monster throw downs.
This is from the FIBA Las Vegas website. I like Michael Redd, and I love foreigners, but this was one painful read.
Amazing team this year. Playing under a different set of rules has been a problem. We are starting to see some adjustments in strategy here. Players like Melo and Lebran are becomming experienced International players. Experience that can be shared with the rest of the team. Add in some intellegent savy vets like Kobe, Kidd, Billups and Prince who can quickly adjust to any type of game and you get the result that we have been seeing in this tournament. Another huge advantage the US team has is depth. US players do not have to play 30+ mins in this grueling pace. Mins are kept down so the fatigue is no more than scrimmage type. Granted some teams like Argentina are going to come in a lot stronger for the 08 games when guys like Ginobili play for the gold. Keep this current US team together along with the head coach and I am confident the US team will win Gold. At least I hope they keep everyone together. They have earned the right to be on that 08 team.
Argentina kept that game pretty close considering they didn't have their top 5-6 players and the US was on fire from the 3-point line. Even though we are crushing teams now, a full strength Argentina has a prayer I think.
I am loving the resurgence of USA basketball. We can't just waltz in there with some long on athleticism/ short on bball IQ guys and dominate. While we were refusing to let Jordan go the world grew up. Basketball has gone global and the US had to stop living in its past...like Lebron. The old lebron not the metrosexual or geeky one.
Very true. It kind of weird that Argentina has so many good players. And they will be there for the Olympics. I do believe that there has been a lesson learned here for the US. Coaches are not there to teach lessons, players are not there to see who can score the most. Everyone has to bring their A-games and treat it like the NBA Finals instead of the NBA All-star game.
Scary thought, Carlos was only the 2nd best player for Argentina. The best player, Scola plays for San Antonio next year. Somehow, San Antonio has kept the core, and rebuilt with youth. Joe should take a lesson.
